1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a small, jet-propelled boat. In particular, it concerns a small, jet-propelled boat in which lowered propulsive force during sharp turns can be prevented.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, when making sharp turns in a small, jet-propelled boat, the operator of the boat would lean his body weight toward the inside of the turn. When this was done in the usual type of small, jet-propelled water craft having just one water intake opening located in the bottom center of the hull, the water intake opening tended to rise above the surface of the water with just a small part of it remaining submerged. The result was that a large volume of air would be taken in, impeding water intake and causing a dramatic drop in propulsion. To prevent this type of lowered propulsion, it was proposed (see, for example, Japan Utility Patent Application Publication Hei 1-145598) to provide two water intake openings which were separate and independent of each other and which were positioned left and right on the hull a specific distance apart. However, the proposed solutions in Japan Utility Patent Application Publication Hei 1-145598 and their prior art examples did not sufficiently attain their objective of preventing the drop in propulsion.
Because both of the water intakes and the duct were always open during turns, and although no air would be taken in at the intake opening on the inside of the turn, the intake on the outside would bring in a large amount of air because it was positioned above the surface of the water, resulting in decreased propulsion.
A principal objective of this invention is to reduce the amount of air intake during turns to an absolute minimum and to thereby prevent the resultant drop in propulsion.